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Ovo
Japanese
Non-veg
Serves meat, vegan options available. Chinese name: 恵比寿. Traditional restaurant that has been serving made-in-house soba noodles since 1898 in the Takayama old district. Has a vegetarian section on the menu which includes 3 choices of hot or cold soba, which can easily be made vegan by leaving out the egg topping. Last orders 5:15pm. No smoking from 11am-2pm. Open Mon 11:00am-3:00pm, Wed-Sun 11:00am-3:00pm. Closed Tue.
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Last update on 23 Sep 2023 by ninamiko
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Added by Chiara.E on 19 Mar 2016
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30 Reviews
First Review by Chiara.E
laughingnome
Points +251
Noodles Worth The Wait! - Edit
Delicious soba noodles. They have three (two hot, one cold) noodles dishes, and a separate "vegetarian" (default vegan) menu if you need it in English.
Read moreWe had the tororo (grated yam) noodles with nameko (mushrooms). Heartily recommended!
Staff are all bilingual. Very easy and tasty.
When we came for lunch there was a queue; put your name down and prepare for flavour!
Guest
jorblian
Points +149
Tasty soba and very accommodating - Edit
Let them know you're vegetarian and they will prepare the broth without any fish. There are 3 menu items that only contain vegetables but by default the broth will be animal based.
Read moreThe food was tasty and they made tempura without any shrimp for us as well.
Guest
LiseJK
Points +259
Deserves 5 stars - Edit
Charming place, easy to read menu with pictograms, several options were vegan.
Read moreMy omnivore family had shrimps, beef etc, and I had the Nameko Soba (my husband had the version with extra tororo (grated yam).
Staff speaks good English and is very friendly.
We are a family of five with very hungry kids and paid less than 14k t’en for lunch.
Guest
Rebeli
Points +173
Great place - Edit
I second all the wonderful reviews. The atmosphere is lovely, the staff is friendly and spoke very good English, and completely understood vegan. I highly recommend.
Read morePros: Food , Staff, Atmosphere
Guest
scarab5q
Points +28
Loved it - Edit
Best vegan Japanese food I've had honestly. Unfortunately they had sold out of Tororo so couldn't try that but the Nameko soba was excellent and didn't require any changes to make it vegan!
Read moreThey even have a few pictures next to the menu items which show whether the menu items contain meat, fish, or anything else non vegan.
The vegan / vegetarian items could be more obviously displayed but honestly the food and staff were so good I didn't care
Guest
LialaLala
Points +27
Buonissimo, ci tornerò assolutamente - Edit
Nameko Tororo Soba, veramente buona! Fra le migliori provate finora! Locale carinissimo e personale estremamente gentile
Read moreGuest
RexFauch
Points +59
So good - Edit
It was the first time I tried soba and it was delicious. We got the table overlooking the Japanese garden, we loved it. The staff was very friendly :)
Read morePros: Delicious food, Great atmosphere, Japanese garden view
Guest
GayaBenSira
Points +52
Great vegan soba - Edit
Soba was fresh, there were 5 vegan options. Highly recommended.
Read morePros: The atmosphere , The selection , The staff
Guest
sharnarosexox
Points +199
Really nice staff, atmosphere and food - Edit
All the staff we spoke to used English if we needed it. You do have to ask for a vegetarian menu, there is vege options on the normal menu but when we ordered and confirmed if it’s vege we were given a different menu so don’t make our mistake! The menu has English and a few other languages. A lovely interior too. There’s a list outside the door to write your name on for seating
Read morePros: Seperate menu, English staff , Traditionally seating
Guest
Francifra
Points +686
Japanese eating experience - Edit
I had my first lunch seating on a tatami here. The atmosphere feels authentic and warm. Food was also great. I definitely recommend it!
Read moreGuest
fabiandelrey
Points +247
Sobaaa - Edit
Great place to experience homemade soba. Staff was super friendly and attentive and knew very well what vegan is. The comic book on how to eat soba is a plus! The second floor room (and the steeeep stairs) are quite an experience.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2023-11-07
Guest
doivx
Points +97
Incredible food - Edit
I asked for the vegan/vegetarian menu and ordered from it. The good was amazing! Would definitely recommend
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2023-10-12
Pros: Food, Staff
Guest
veggieboi73795
Points +29
Mindblowing! - Edit
Food was mindblowingly good! Soba had a nutty flavor that you just can’t get in the US. As soon as I said I was vegetarian they brought me a separate vegetarian menu! As a non-vegan I was a little disappointed that the vegetarian menu didn’t have the option to add a quail egg or mushrooms to the cold soba, just yam. My partner eats fish and therefore was able to order cold soba with yam, mushrooms and egg (but his sauce had dashi and mine did not). I probably could have accomplished getting the additions if I felt bolder about asking questions. Food also came with a very informative comic-book-style pamphlet about how to enjoy traditional soba. All in all it was a meal I will definitely remember for years to come.
Read moreGuest
JuliaSantos7
Points +1794
3 vegan options - Edit
They will bring you a menu with the 3 vegan options if you ask for vegan food. Nice staff and delicious soba.
Read moreGuest
AnimalLiberationToday
Points +179
Fresh soba - Edit
Nice place that makes fresh soba noodles. Server spoke good English. Even brought a cool comic book in English explaining the customs of how to eat soba noodles (warm or cold)
Read moreGuest
Hanna3933
Points +1134
Looks busy restaurant, but good staff! - Edit
I asked them about vegan options, they showed us three Soba menus.
Read moreBut I think they can deal with the change vegan options sometimes if you want. Because they provided us tempura for vegan! It's not use fish, shrimp and egg!✨
The mushroom and kelp soup stock was very delicious.🌱💙 I like it! #Veganuary
Guest
lucybelle18
Points +65
Soba heaven in a cozy atmosphere - Edit
The soba was amazing. Four vegan options with non-veg available for other party members. Staff were pretty nice too. Really nice and cozy restaurant
Read morePros: Four vegan options, Cozy warm restaurant , Decently priced
Guest
marukochan
Points +445
Great food and service - Edit
This shop has a separate veg menu offering 3 veg options - 2 soup soba and 1 cold soba. the soba is good and portion is filling. service is wonderful- they even provided us with a leaflet in english on how to enjoy the soba.
Read morePros: great veg options , friendly service
Cons: seating is a little cramped
Guest
Bibi65
Points +25
Perfect dish on a hot summer day - Edit
We actually went there twice during our stay in Takayama. The cold sobs noodles were refreshing and went down a treat. The daikon was extremely nice with just the right punch. Don’t forget the use the soyaba to finish the meal.
Read moreGuest
Rachel4Animals
Points +192
Good service and good food! - Edit
Such nice restaurant staff who know what vegan means. I had the Nameko Mushroom Udon with the shichimi spice and it was delicious! Best udon dish I've had so far. Highly recommend!
Read morePros: Friendly atmosphere, Friendly staff, Great food
Guest
DelboyWilson
Points +186
Amazing soba - Edit
They still have three soba choices which are essentially vegan - no fish broth, no eggs etc... The mushroom soba was outstanding and authentic.
Read morePros: English menu, separate vegetarian menu, Wonderful traditional setting, Handmade soba
Guest
ViCao
Points +77
Plain soba with dipping sauce - Edit
We were excited to try this place for the experience. This place specialises in soba noodles and we were really keen to try cold soba with dipping sauce. Didn't enjoy the cold noodles and the sauce was very salty. The chef was kind enough to give us a softer sauce that wasn't as strong which was more enjoyable. The only vegetables it came with was grated daikon. Now this was raw so it was so bitter it was really hard to go down. Unfortunately we didn't enjoy this but the experience was interesting. It looks like a local favourite so unfortunately not a cuisine we are used to but I'm sure others may. Only one vegan option available.
Read morePros: Fresh noodles, Great service, Located conveniently within sanmachi suji
Cons: Overrated
Guest
misery_chic
Points +66
kinda pricey but authentic - Edit
Great soba, three vegan/vego options but was a bit expensive.
Read moreCan find soba around town for around 700 yen .
Pros: three vegan options, authentic seating area, english speaking staff
Cons: expensive - 1500 yen per person
Guest
AniaP
Points +71
Great soba and delicious soba pudding - Edit
We had a very pleasant experience here today: probably the closest we got to an authentic, yet veggie-friendly, restaurant in our Japan travels. They have an English menu, a multilingual ingredients lists for some of the dishes and our waitress spoke English. Their “default” broth contains fish but can be made veggie on request. The restaurant was quite busy but the service was fast so tables freed up just in time for new customers. We both had the mushroom soba which was very tasty. I also ordered their soba pudding which I’ve never tried before and which turned out to be my new favourite thing :)
Read moreGuest
Notrickpony
Points +22
Good soba! - Edit
We had some really nice homemade soba in a veggie broth.
Read moreGuest
Jeppo
Points +685
Takayama soba - Edit
I dined at the main branch, which was conveniently open when several other options in town were not. There's a Happycow sticker on the sign out front and the waitress spoke a little English.
Read moreThey have an English menu with, if I recall, three choices that don't use fish stock, but they are more elaborate and expensive options than the straight up soba, which I wanted. Through Japanese, I was able to get the normal zaru soba done vegan, but I can't say whether this would be possible using only English.
The soba itself was alright; much harder than most I've had, which may be a regional thing. It also wasn't the cheapest place I've been to. They provided a pamphlet for my friend on how to eat the noodles and drink the broth.
Pros: Vegan English speaker friendly, Open for late lunch
Cons: A bit pricey, May have smoking at times
Guest
CaitL
Points +127
Delicious soba and veggie menu - Edit
Staff know what vegetarian means, English menu and cute cartoon hand out for how to eat soba. A great experience in an old style noodle shop.
Read moreGuest
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